samandjack.net



Chapter Two

It had been an uneventful night, and Jack had been the last one to keep watch. He observed Sam as she woke up with a cute frown on her face, looking around the camp and wrinkling her nose as if something stank.

She spotted him and mumbled a “Morning, Sir” as she stood up and headed into the bushes again, out of sight, and he smiled to himself thinking that she looked adorable with bedhead.

‘Watch out, Jack!’ he sternly reminded himself as he asked Teal’c for a cup of coffee. The former First Prime had breakfast duty this morning.

Daniel was yawning awake as well, sitting up and putting on his glasses. “Where’s Captain Carter?” he asked, looking around and sounding a little worried.

“She just went to take care of personal business for a moment,” answered Jack. “You may want to do the same. We’ll be heading out soon.”

“O,kay” the doctor responded with another yawn. He started to head into the bushes when Jack warned, “Not that way!”

“Oh!” Daniel said, evidently spotting Sam’s blond head from afar. “I’ll just…” pointing away, “Go this way.” He then disappeared in the opposite direction while Teal’c handed Jack a steaming mug.

~*~

They had spent most of the morning hiking through pretty rough terrain, already heading back to the Gate. They had been conversing about different topics, mostly sports and cars, in which Sam had actively participated and Teal’c had been silent but attentive.

Sam had been pleased to surprise the three men when she had revealed that she was quite the mechanic, and that she owned a sleek motorcycle which she loved to ride at high speeds. They had been teasing her about her numerous speeding tickets when, just over a steep hill, they came to an unexpected view.

The four teammmates gapped in awe at a beautiful little valley surrounded by tall, spindly trees that looked a lot like Earth’s pines. The center of the valley held a small yellow and scarlet plain in bloom with breathtaking, tall, red flowers and golden grasses.

“Wow! What a great picture!” Carter commented with a pleased smile.

“Well, our hike just got a little easier,” ever practical Colonel O’Neill responded. “The Stargate should be just over the next hill, across this field.”

“I’m almost sorry we have to walk through it. I would hate to damage the flowers,” responded Daniel, still staring at the wonderful sight.

“I wonder if they have a pleasant smell,” added Sam. She loved the smell of flowers in bloom. It reminded her of her mom’s rose gardens. She had used to plant one in every home they had undeterred by the knowledge that she would probably have to move again.

Teal’c remained silent, waiting for Colonel O’Neill to give them the go ahead.

“We’ll find out soon, Captain. Let’s follow a single line straight to the other side,” Jack commanded, starting to hike down the hill they were perched on. “Keep an eye out for critters.”

Sam followed Jack down the hill and stepped into the field of flowers, Daniel behind her and Teal’c at the end of the line. “They do have a sweet smell!” she remarked, brushing the flowers with her fingertips as she walked, the stems almost waist high. They were shorter than they had appeared from the top of the hill, but each tall stalk held at least ten little flowers along the tip. The stalks themselves were yellow, with little black dots here and there.

Sam was about to comment that she had never seen anything so exotic when she noticed Colonel O’Neill stumble a bit ahead of her. He then stumbled again, and she was about to ask if he was okay when the man just stopped, clearly dizzy. He turned to look at her with glazed eyes, slightly swaying on his feet and trying to say something, but then fell flat on his back with a loud thump.

“Sir!” she shouted, running to his side. She automatically felt for his pulse and found it without a problem. It seemed rather slow, but strong. “Dr. Jackson, please give me a hand wi…” she started to say, turning to Daniel, when she noticed that he was also stumbling, just a few feet behind her.

“Whooa!” the archeologist said, evidently missing the fact that their commander had passed out. He had a hand to his head, then he staggered and he too fell unconscious to the ground, face first.

Teal’c rushed to Daniel from behind, turned him over and searched for his pulse. “He is just unconscious. But it is unlikely that both Colonel O’Neill and Dr. Jackson succumbed to exhaustion at the same time. Something here is affecting them.”

“I agree,” Sam replied grunting as she tried lifting her CO but not quite managing to do so. “You’re going to have to help me with Colonel O’Neill. He’s too heavy for me. I’ll handle Dr. Jackson. Let’s get them back to the hill we came down from. They were doing okay there.”

Teal’c easily picked up Jack from the ground and laid him over his massive shoulders. Sam did the same with Daniel, though not as easily. She was actually wishing the doctor were lighter. Although not as big as her commander, he was not a small man.

She laboriously followed Teal’c back the way they had come from and they were almost there when Sam noticed that Teal’c was wobbly on his feet.

“Teal’c! Are you okay?!” she shouted at him, gasping with the effort of carrying her weighty burden.

The Jaffa did not answer, but kept walking as if drunk, still trying to get to the end of the field. Before he could reach it, however, he fell forward with Colonel O’Neill on his back.

“Oh, crap!” Sam cried out as she almost ran the rest of the way to the hill, grunting with the exertion, Daniel heavy on her shoulders. She climbed only a few steps up the hill when she had to dump him on the ground, falling to her knees but glad that they were a safe distance from the flowers. Breathing hard, she immediately turned to head back to where Teal’c and Colonel O’Neill were laying unconscious.

She was panting, almost completely out of breath, but something was telling her that it was imperative that she get the men out of the field. So she first grabbed Colonel O’Neill around his chest and started to drag him backwards. She knew she would not be able to lift him.

While she was dragging the inert form of her Commander, she was wondering what could have affected the men that did not seem to affect her. They had seemed fine until they had been pretty deep into the field. She hoped she was doing the right thing by returning them to the previous spot. Maybe the danger was there, and it had just taken some time to take effect.

She was almost completely drained by the time she brought Colonel O’Neill to lay next to Dr. Jackson’ inert form. She, however, did not take a moment to rest and turned back immediately to retrieve Teal’c.

The former First Prime proved to be her greatest challenge. She huffed and puffed every step of the way, dying for a drink of water, her muscles screaming painfully, but she managed to drag Teal’c by the arms all the way to the same spot where the other two men were still insensible.

Sam then collapsed to the ground, flat on her back and taking deep breaths, desperately trying to slow down her racing heart. A few minutes later, she retrieved her canteen, drank some water, and turned her attention to the three men laying near her.

They were out cold, face up on the alien soil. She first approached Daniel, felt for his pulse again and was relieved when it felt strong. Then she tried pouring a little water on his face, hoping to rouse him. Nothing happened. She poured a little more, and still nothing happened. She was even more alarmed. Now what?

She approached Colonel O’Neill and did the same with identical results. She was at a loss, so she just sat there for a few moments, wondering what to do next.

Suddenly, she heard Teal’c stir and she rushed to kneel by his side. “Teal’c! Can you hear me?” she yelled in his face, slapping his cheek lightly.

The Jaffa suddenly opened his eyes and sat up so abruptly that Sam fell on her butt, startled. Teal’c looked at her and then at his surroundings as if trying to remember where he was. “I apologize, Captain Carter,” he said, shaking his head to clear it, “Are you all right?”

“Yeah! Are you?” she had come close to him again and was looking into his black eyes to make sure he was alert.

“I am fine now,” Teal’c responded. “My symbiote must have helped me fight the effects of whatever overwhelmed us.”

“This happened one hundred meters into the field, so my bet is that the flowers are the culprit. We’re going to have to get to the gate some other way. I’m hoping their effect is not serious and that Colonel O’Neill and Dr. Jackson will wake up soon.”

As if on cue, her Commander woke up. “Oy!” he grunted.

She turned and saw Colonel O’Neill, still flat on his back, touching his head. “What…?” He started to ask, still not opening his eyes.

“Sir! I’m so glad you are awake! How do you feel?” Sam asked, kneeling next to him.

He finally opened his eyes to blink at her in bewilderment. “What happened?” he asked.

“I don’t know for certain, Sir. The three of you just passed out, one by one. I had to drag you guys here. I suspect it had something to do with the field we were walking through.”

Sam was now helping him sit up and was offering him some water. Colonel O’Neill drank greedily, wiping his mouth with his sleeve. He then handed the canteen back to her. “How are the others?” he asked, trying to stand up, but still shaky.

Sam assisted him, holding him steady once he was on his feet. “Teal’c was the last one to be affected and the first one to wake up. Dr. Jackson is still out. I poured some water on his face, but he didn’t wake up. I had done the same with you. It looks like we just have to wait for the effect to pass,” she was saying as Jack approached Daniel and knelt by his side.

“Daniel!” he shouted at the doctor’s face, but getting no response. “Hey!” he called, slapping his cheek, not as gently as Sam had done with Teal’c.

Daniel did respond the second time, groaning. He opened his eyes slowly to look at them in confusion. “What’s going on?” he asked.

“We’re not sure yet, but it looks like we were affected by something in the field. Us three men passed out, but Carter seems immune to whatever it is,” Jack explained, squinting across the field and already thinking of an alternate route to the Stargate.

“Actually, I don’t think I’m completely immune. I did feel a little dizzy when I finished dragging the three of you here… but it could have been from the exertion,” Sam felt obligated to point out. Her muscles still felt shaky. “I think we should discuss this somewhere far from here, though. If the wind changes, and if whatever affected us is airborne, we all may end up in trouble again.”

“Right!” Jack replied, standing up and helping Daniel to do so. “Let’s go East. The wind is blowing West and we can circle the plain,” he directed, already starting to move. “Carter! What are you doing?” he annoyingly called after her when she quickly jogged down the hill again.

“I’m just picking some samples of the flowers for analysis,” Sam answered, pulling out a plastic container from her pack and kneeling by the edge of the field to cut some stems.

“Why?” Jack asked patiently.

“Why not? I’d like to know what did this to you. It may be something worth exploiting,” she answered with a teasing smile as she finished sealing the plastic container.

“Okay, whatever!” he acquiesced, rolling his eyes.

Sam smiled wider, wondering if he had caught her double meaning.

“Just keep it away from us,” her CO added grumpily, which made her think he had.

“Yes, Sir,” she replied in good humor as she put the container back inside her backpack and started to follow her teammates.

~*~

The rest of the hike back to the Stargate had gone smoothly. They had returned to the SGC and been given routine medical check-ups which seemed to indicate that there had been no aftereffects from whatever had overwhelmed them.

Jack and his team had also been introduced to the newly appointed SGC Medical Director, a Dr. Janet Fraiser, handpicked by General Hammond. The auburn-haired physician was quite friendly but efficient, and she held an air of confident command despite her petite size.

She had also been as fascinated as Carter was about the little flowers the Captain had brought back. The two of them had hit if off right away, discussing possible reasons why his second-in-command had not been affected while the rest of them had been put to sleep.

“I bet it has to do with hormones,” had hypothesized the doctor. “That’s the most obvious difference between you and the other three team members. We’ll check that out first!”

The woman actually seemed to be having fun! Now the two new friends were headed out of the infirmary together, chatting away, and Jack could not help but notice just how tall Captain Carter was standing next to the little doctor.

“Scientists!” he grouchily mumbled to himself, listening to the two women talk about the flowers enthusiastically. All he wanted to do was shower, debrief, and go home. A cold beer with his name on it was waiting! He’d write his mission report in the morning.

“Would you guys like to join us at the mess hall for dinner later?” Carter unexpectedly asked, pausing at the door and addressing her three teammates.

“No, thanks, I don’t need to hear how your female superiority makes you immune to flowers. I was planning on pizza and beer at home,” he responded, waving them off. “I’ll see you later when we debrief.”

The enthusiasm appeared to instantly dim on his Captain’s face, and Jack wished he hadn’t sounded so dismissive.

“Charming!” he heard the doctor say to Sam under her breath, and he realized he had come across like a jerk. Oh, well! That would not be the last time, he was sure.

“Jack, do you mind if Teal’c and I join you for pizza?” Daniel asked, standing next to Teal’c. “We don’t have any plans and we’d love to get out of the base.”

The archeologist was looking at him hopefully, reminding Jack of a teenager asking to go out on a school night. Then he briefly directed an apologetic smile to Carter. “No offense, Captain Carter, but we are kind of sick of the mess hall food.”

“No problem, I understand,” she quickly responded, and Jack thought he detected a dejected tone.

Then he remembered that Teal’c had not been allowed out of the SGC yet. Daniel was in the process of setting up an office and had sleeping quarters at the base, but he had not found an apartment in town yet. Jack thought a short excursion for pizza would be good for both men.

“Sure! I’ll make sure it’s okay with General Hammond for you two to leave the base and let you know,” he responded, walking out and leaving everyone behind in the infirmary, determinedly ignoring the look of disappointment in his Captain’s pretty face.

He heard her tell Dr. Fraiser that she would see her later and head for the locker room.




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